Braid: NDP takes another expensive run at school curriculumBack to video

On Wednesday, Education Minister David Eggen announced a full-scale project costing $64.4 million over six years.

The previous PC regime had spent about $75 million in three years, after public consultations for then education minister Dave Hancock’s pet project, called Inspiring Education.

So, it’s going to cost $140 million to replace a 30-year-old system that should have been phased out a decade ago.

The PCs were getting very close to launching the new courses in 2014.

Along came Jim Prentice and his education minister, Gordon Dirks. They wanted the whole thing re-examined.

To civil servants, that means “stop.” They did, and then the NDP won the election.

Now the government rolls out what seems like a larger package, with six subjects to be developed at a time.

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New curricula will be ready for kindergarten to Grade 4 in late 2018; for Grades 5 to 8 by 2019; and for high school from 2020 to 2022.

In the education world, this is considered very speedy — even after so much work had already been done, dumped and then dusted off again.

Started under Hancock, the new PC curricula were not going to be unpalatable for Eggen and the new crew.

Hancock is more progressive than some New Democrats. So is Thomas Lukaszuk, his successor as education minister.

Thomas LukaszukColleen De Neve Colleen De Neve/Calgary Herald

Lukaszuk doesn’t think there’s much the NDP has to change. He says Eggen should get on with it.

“They should just slap an orange cover on the thing and go ahead,” he says.

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“I don’t care about that — every government has to put its stamp on things. I understand. But there’s really no reason for more delay.

“By the time they get this done, the basic curriculum will be 36-years-old.”

Lukaszuk says the PCs were at the point of writing the course content into the overall design. It was still a lot of work, but not six years’ worth.

The New Democrats insist they’ll make full use of the material developed by the PCs.

And yet, things are bound to change over time.

The NDP didn’t like the PCs’ level of consultation with business in developing courses. Now they’re bringing on the Alberta Teachers’ Association pretty much as a full partner.

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ATA president Mark Ramsankar says, “This is wonderful. We’re now involved with this process.” He thinks the ATA’s own curriculum development sections can help tremendously.

Teachers have always written, or helped write, new course material. Many are seconded to Alberta Education for that purpose every year. Teachers also test new courses in pilot classrooms.

The government picks up the salary for the seconded teachers. That’s largely why $38.8 million of the $64.4 million for this project will go toward staffing.

What’s new is the presence of the teachers’ union. This already annoys conservatives just as much as the influence of business irritated the NDP.

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There’s no doubt about the need for new curricula. After several years of leading Canada in math and other disciplines, and competing strongly with top nations, Alberta is starting to slide. British Columbia is now well ahead in developing curricula designed for modern times and economies.

Wildrose education critic Mark Smith urges the NDP to get this done without being “fixated on implementing an NDP world view. It is of the utmost importance that they keep ideology out of this review.”

That’s probably as impossible for the NDP as it would be for Wildrose. If Alberta does finally get NDP education, there will be emphasis on many social issues the government cares about. Eggen cites climate change, gender diversity and sexual orientation.

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